Player Features and Ideas Discussion

What are you essentially doing when you buy a toon in the character bazaar?

So with the current proposed system from teh Dev blog we remove SP in fixed amounts (currently 500k) which is turn into an item that we can sell. Character Bazaar still exists so no issues there. No pay to win as they have put diminishing returns on applying the SP to characters, plus the SP comes from characters. Only new characters get the benefit of this fully. Otherwise SP is removed from the game and some isk is sunk if this was a market transaction because of taxes. Oh and I'm sure if Aurum sales go up then CCP also wins in this as well.

I see this mainly as a way to get some isk out of the game and to give new players/characters a chance to become "Useful" quickly. Case in point, we are a WH corp and living in a WH requires certain skills to be useful (cloak, scan, etc). I have a friend that wants to join but he isn't useful in our corp so either he hates it or is negectled and leaves. If on the other hand I can buy him some Skill Packets and give him a boost to start and get him up to say the 5 mil cap before diminishing returns it is worth it to me. I just spent the isk I would have on PLEX to get him to play on something that will make his experience more enjoyable. Especially since I can help him pick the right skills from the start.

I would have to say that this will also help determine the pricing of characters in teh bazaar since all SP will have a fixed value based on the Skill Packet pricing. So if the going rate is 500 isk/SP then a Skill Packet is worth 250 mil each. I would actually be more willing to buy a character off of the bazaar knowing that I can sell some of the skills that I don't want to recoupe some of the isk I spent buying the character... Or on the other hand I can find a character that has most of the skills and buy the rest of the skills through Packets to get him to where I want to be. Either way all the SP comes from actual subscriptions so there really isn't a P2W factor here. Instead we can get our new player base more capable and ready to join in some of the more interesting aspects of Eve because they now have the right skills without having to wait years to get to them.

All in all i think the current iteration does the intended job or rewarding new players with SP quickly to retain them and gives older players a chance to help out new players/characters or make some extra isk.

I think this a very good idea.

It's a great substitution for the character bazzar.

I'm all about criticizing P2W aspects because of how it effects newbies and retention, but if you have that problem with this idea, you have that problem with SP altogether.

Furthermore, this post's reasoning is shabby at best, and here's why.


Everything about motivation describes self-direction as most beneficial for innovation, creativity, etc. Furthermore, there's the option of learning the game and playing well without the objectively arbitrary limitations of SP. It's no fun subbing for a game and finding the inability to do anything you've heard about or fantasized (competitively). On defining the qualia for interest in video games, the top response on the top category (competition) -- "I like to play to prove to my friends that I am the best." SP is a barrier in the progression for that, and that's a problem for retention and referrals.

You're implying that SP is somehow helpful for the game. Well, here's all of the research on motivation -- it says the opposite! What purpose does it serve, then?

"Veterans win." That already happens. Starter corps are already non-competitive because of low SP. Where's sov action now? It's supported by the biggest ships. "Fix sov!" you say. Remove SP.

I think they just should change it how it was giving rookies a clear idea what skills they might get when they start and maybe give a extra tutorial here or there and just add 3 mil sp all together instead of making this a freemuim game really

I know rookies could use the support of this but really, this is getting to Sp for rl money and that wil be really...really stupid if you ask me knowing the time and effort that I put in my alts and my two mains can be removed simply by opening my bank wallet gives me a really sour taste to be fair.


Short version :

Something needs to be done, but paying for sp, sure of hell should "NOT" be on the list

ok Forum rules say explain

bad Idea why?

Pay to win.
No matter how you slice it, making SP granular and not sold in bracketed packages, is open to fantastic abuse.
The outragously rich can hoover up SP - other players can't - pay a dollar price for isk, get SP however you want it.

The reason the character Bazarr worked at all is because of all the things the dev blog calls negative come attached to a character when you buy it.

Seriously, how can you not see how bad an idea this is!? verge of rant.

do better! I know you can make good choices, make better choices!

No

The complexity that comes with the character bazaar, character packages, mistakes that're made, reputation attached to names, sets of skills that are built upon the in game requirements that don't allow certain skills before others.

These things prevent significant abuse.
Characters are already trained to be sold, I get that, I don't like it, but I tolerate it because it's under control.

Characters created for the sole purpose of farming SP and pumping it into toons already bloated with SP, I fundementally disagree with. It is not Eve.

at the moment you can train many at the same time.
under this proposed system you can train one many times.

More than enough. Too many in fact.

Create that gap and it it will be filled

*edit
Yes you can buy one that somebody else trained years ago, as a complete package and all that comes with it, as a Toon and stays with that toon.

This makes SP a resource like all others. That can be mined, however expensive, and given to any other toon.

Perhaps a profitable idea, and not just for you.

I'd have to defer to a space economist to answer that one.

Bad idea is bad. New players will be forced to pay real money, old players on the other hand will just keep buying skill packets with all the incursion and afk farming isk. It doesnt matter how diminishing the returns are sp is more valuable then isk,